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When completing a PIT return, you can deduct internet expenses from income and consequently pay less tax. Note: internet relief is available for only two consecutive years, so many taxpayers have already exhausted their entitlement.
Internet relief is available to individuals filing PIT-37, PIT-36 and PIT-28 in 2020: for example, employees and contractors, pensioners, entrepreneurs taxed on the progressive scale and those paying lump-sum tax. To use it, attach PIT/O to the return and deduct internet expenses from income (or revenue for lump-sum taxpayers), up to PLN 760 per year.
There are, however, some restrictions.
- The relief can be used for a maximum of two consecutive years. A taxpayer who deducted internet expenses even once in the past will therefore not be entitled to the relief this year.
EXAMPLE
A taxpayer used the internet relief only once, in their return for 2017. They forgot about it when filing PIT for 2018. They cannot use it in PIT for 2019.
- The relief covers the cost of using the internet, not installing it: activation fees, network installation, purchasing a modem and equipment servicing cannot be deducted.
- Expenses already recognised as tax-deductible costs, deducted from income (revenue) earlier or reimbursed in any form do not qualify. Thus, an entrepreneur who includes internet fees in business costs cannot deduct them again in PIT. Nor can a remote employee who signed an internet contract in their own name and paid the bills but received reimbursement from the employer.
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How do you determine the internet relief limit?
PLN 760 is the maximum internet relief that can be stated in an annual return. A taxpayer may deduct only expenses actually incurred. If internet access costs PLN 40 gross monthly, the deduction is 12 × PLN 40 = PLN 480, not PLN 760. Unused relief does not carry over to the next year.
A taxpayer using the relief must have evidence of the expenditure. The tax authorities may ask for a document specifying, in particular, the buyer’s and seller’s details, the type of service and the amount paid. A contract with the provider in your own name is not enough, so it is worth retaining bills or e-invoices.
Bundled and mobile internet versus tax relief
Many questions concern internet relief for an internet-and-television package. The tax authorities take the position that the taxpayer may make a deduction if the provider separates the charges on the invoice, specifying which part relates to internet and which to television.
Some publications still suggest that only internet expenses “in premises (a building) constituting the taxpayer’s place of residence” can be deducted. In fact, that provision ceased to apply at the start of 2011. There is now no rule making relief conditional on using the internet at home. You can therefore deduct mobile internet or internet café expenses if you can document them. A café receipt alone is insufficient because it does not contain the buyer’s details.
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Summary
Where several household members use the internet, the person who signed the contract and pays the bills is entitled to the relief. What about spouses who signed jointly and both pay? The National Tax Information service explains in its information brochure: “Each of them may deduct an amount up to the PLN 760 limit. Thus, if the spouses spent, for example, PLN 800 in total, each may deduct half of that amount or a proportion they agree on. It is important not to deduct the same amount twice.”
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